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Just a reminder before this does the usual spin into the weeds: Ultimate Extras is not the same thing as Vista Ultimate. It's just one little feature of that release.

People, for some reason, think that the difference between Vista Home Premium and Vista Ultimate is that one feature which is like thinking the advantage of buying an Alienware system is that you get a pen and a baseball cap.

I don't think it was ever a feature of the current Vista Ultimate either.......

@Mike Fact is that it was heavily promoted, and it turned into much about nothing.  It's quite obvious from the reactions of people to what has been released that it did not live up to expectations.

@mikegalos

I agree 100%. I never thought about buying Ultimate for the extras. I liked that version because it has all the features I need including the top-notch backup utilities for everyday use (read: previous versions).

I'll hope however Microsoft will ship a maximum of 3 versions with different targets: a light version for ooooooooooooooooooooold machines, a home version and a business version.

@Nickelgreen

I think its time we just get down to one version for everyone.

Old Machine = dumed down version same price or hardware upgrade.  Go ahead and make a home and business install but only from one SKU, everyone has access to the same feature set its just a matter of installing the components you need/want or choose a "Home" or "Business" load out.

meason

Are you saying you want one version at the price of Ultimate or are you asking for Ultimate at the price of one of the less complete but less expensive version?

If the former, there are a lot of home users who would rather not pay for lots of large-corporation-only features they neither want nor have any use for.

If the latter, I'd like HP to throw in a free netbook with every toner cartridge I buy.

Meason,

Agree about Extras. Microsoft promoted them and didn't deliver. Sinofsky seems to be a very practical guy and Microsoft seems to have learned its lessons. Of course, it's too early to comment on that and we'll only only when 7 is officially released.

Disagree about product versions. The advantage of having many SKUs is the price. Home users can pay less than business users, which makes sense to me. I don't understand why this is even an issue, frankly. Most products have multiple SKUs. Why should Windows be any different? Just because Apple is? Choice is good and it also makes people feel good that they're not paying too much for features that they don't need.

Nickelgreen

There are currently 4 retail versions of Vista

Home Basic (designed for machines that were old in 2006)

Home Premium (designed for almost all home users)

Business

Ultimate (which has all features of all versions and is typically for professional geeks who need to work with corporate features at home or home features at work)

Since it looks like Windows 7's minimum hardware requirements list will be about the same or lower than Vista, we can probably get rid of Home Basic since those machines that were marginal in 2006 are getting pretty old 3 years later. Those of use who work in the industry really do need Ultimate.

I'd suggest that the minimum retail version list could be:

Windows 7 Home

Windows 7 Business

Windows 7 Ultimate

Again, though, that's still only dropping it from 4 versions to 3 so it really is not a huge problem.

"Fact is that it was heavily promoted"

Sorry, but that's just not true.  There were no real marketing materials about Ultimate Extras in the partner channel.  It was tacked on.  Anything in it was a bonus, but a key selling point it was not.  I know - I received all the Registered Partner marketing materials at launch, and still do.

"Ultimate (which has all features of all versions and is typically for professional geeks who need to work with corporate features at home or home features at work)"

Microsoft promotes Ultimate for small business users that don't have a server.  Why?  Mostly because of Bitlocker and because small business users sometimes use multimedia features on the go, or use their laptop at home.  In an environment with no server, security is usually not a top priority (otherwise they'd have one).  If the company ever upgrades, they already have domain support in Ultimate, making it an easy migration.

Larger business users will likely an enterprise agreement or purchase SA on top of OEM licensing, so they'll get Bitlocker as a benefit of SA.  They would typically buy Vista Business, and adding SA means they upgrade Business to Enterprise.

Vista Business is the preferred option for business users with a server, because in a domain environment, the IT staff like to keep the systems locked down.  That means removing non-essential features such as multimedia.

This is so funny. Joe didn't get a laptop so he's calling anyone who got one at the PDC a "fanboy" :-):

www.microsoft-watch.com/.../microsoft_gives_bloggers_laptops_again.html

"I could be more critical, because of conflicting objectives: Microsoft peddles influence, whereas I seek to present the most factual information—and that might not be favorable to the company. No offense intended, I would consider some of the bloggers receiving Windows 7 laptops as being decidedly pro-Microsoft. They're fanboys. By handpicking people more likely to write positively, Microsoft seeks to gain positive influence."

Me too nickle. My buddies and I did not even care about Ultimate extras. We just wanted to be ready for all business and networking needs. I did not even know that there would be extras.

shark

Seeing Joe "Apple Watch" Wilcox peddling himself as neutral is really amusing.

Killing Ultimate Extras was a good idea. Microsoft should have done this better and it never really materialised. The problem was that for some people they saw this as part of the Ultimate pricing. To say it was just add ons was to sell short the fact this was part of the RTM information wave selling points. Microsoft did fumbal the football here and not adding it to Seven helps ends more criticism.

"This is so funny. Joe didn't get a laptop so he's calling anyone who got one at the PDC a "fanboy""

Jealousy, thy name is Joe Wilcox.

Where are all the Mackie's here to argue over this?

All I have to say is, "turnabout is fair play".

Need I bring up Dave, Wally, and Goober again?

"To say it was just add ons was to sell short the fact this was part of the RTM information wave selling points."

I still have the launch posters that were given out to partners.  Nowhere on them do they mention Ultimate Extras.  Nowhere!

Wae, did you even RTFA?

Here's part of what Wilcox had to say:

"Why is nobody making a ruckus? Because it's no big deal now and shouldn't have been one nearly two years ago."

"It's unprecedented for Microsoft to hand out hardware and software to so many reviewers and bloggers this early in a Windows version's development cycle. Clearly, Microsoft wants to get a positive message out about Vista's successor. More importantly, the move shows the Windows team's confidence in 7's reliability, stability and usability. "

"The conflict of interest wasn't Microsoft's but bloggers who used the loaner program to raise their stature and increase clicks."

"Microsoft is managing early Windows 7 perceptions surprisingly well, and this newer laptop loaner program is excellent example."

"Because of Vista, the Windows perception-messaging team has a tough job ahead. But this week's Windows 7 keynote and laptop loaner program started the process in a positive way. "

Doesn't sound like jealousy to me at all. You've confused "objective analysis" with "fanboi". Not the first time for you, and I'm sure it won't be the last. I know it's hard for you to realize that everyone doesn't have the Vista logo tattoed on their posterior like you and "mikegalos" do, but sometimes it really IS possible to both praise and slap Microsoft at the same time. Wilcox is right--Microsoft is influence-peddling. Not that there's anything wrong with that, or so he says.

If you'd pull your head out of your *** long enough to actually read, maybe you could stop calling Wilcox "jealous". Don't you have a "helper cat" to feed or something?

Lotsa

As I said, Joe "Apple Watch" Wilcox peddling himself as neutral is really amusing.

"You've confused "objective analysis" with "fanboi"."

Funny, but I could say the same thing about you and Dave & Wally's Apple reviews.

Thanks for being the first Mackie to step up though.  That was too easy.

I wonder if Joe Wilcox was the person that complained about Windows 7 that Paul mentioned in WW.

;)

I thought the same thing, Wae.

Anyway, it's funny that Joe should even bring up the laptops issue if it's not a biggie. It almost sounds like he's trying to make a big issue out of it, without appearing to do so.

"Hey, it's not a big deal, but I wonder why no one brought it up. No, really, MS gave laptops to fanboys and no one seems to care? Again, it's not a big deal..."

It's also funny the way he tries to prove he's unbiased.

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